Charts & Deadlines

I've recently joined a free pattern testing group over on Ravelry. It's cool, but it's making me stretch myself out of my happy little, comfortable (all right... boring) place. It's made me try new things AND finish them!  How funny is that?  Me getting excited about finishing stuff AND being held accountable to a time limit?  Stop laughing.
That's been one of the biggest challenges I've had while knitting... finishing. Oh! Gimme a break! I finish stuff, just um... sometime way (waaaay) later than when I start. Christmas presents need to be started in July; that sort of thing!  Knitting is enjoyable and I'm kind of good at it, but time limits... well... yeah...
BUT now that I've joined this free testing group, I have to be accountable. I must complete the tests I sign up for within set time limits. Must. So far it's been easy. I've completed the few I've done way ahead of time and now I'm ready to begin another one.  I've signed up to make a scarf. Say What?
A scarf?  Yep. A scarf.
Ha ha.... it's a lacy, lovely, huge thing and it has to be done by 10 March.  AND guess what?! I haven't started yet. Go figure.
Hey! I was waiting for my yarn (it arrived yesterday) and when I printed out the pattern... oh no!!  Wait! Whoa! It's a chart. C H A R T . Wow. No k2,p2,k47 kinda thing ~ which is what I'm used to. Nope. This one is all little squares with weird symbols. WTH?
Okay... checking another "trying something new" square on my resolutions box... how in the heck do you read a chart?!
I had to spend some time online to figure this one out and guess what?! It's pretty intuitive. You read it just like a regular ol' knitting pattern except it's more of an 'I don't know how to read actual words' sort of thing. Like a picture menu at a restaurant. Point to the picture of what you want dearies! Each little picture, in each little square means some sort of stitch. *more sighing loudly* I guess I'm going to go slowly until I get all those little symbols memorized... hoping for sometime before row 442.... omygosh I certainly hope I can meet the time limit!

Wallaby Sweater KAL

Another Wallaby KAL is in the works!
 

 We started a couple of weeks ago and I don't have a lot of progress to report, but I've been getting hints that my friends are zipping along!  I really need to catch up!

** the pictures are from Big's sweater that I made him over a year ago.. almost 2 actually.. but I needed pictures to illustrate a few points for my friends that are making this sweater now. 

 I've made this sweater four times now and each time I do it, I realize stuff and even change some of the ways I do the pattern. It's made it easier for me and I'm hoping that it helps you now. 

 

The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn and although I had my eye on a few nicer (read $$) yarns, I  ended up with this Lion Brand Wool Ease.  I liked the soft grey color and the fact that it was washable almost as much as I liked it being less than $4 a skein! Winning! 

One of the hardest parts of this pattern is deciding whom to knit said sweater for.  Once you decide that, the rest is fairly simple!  Now that you know what size you are making, cast on using the smaller of the two needles (24" circular needles size 6 & 8).  I chose to make the 'Wilbur Wallaby' ~ size large so I cast on 146 sts using my size 6, 24 inch needle.   The ribbing is simple K1, P1 ribbing done for 3inches for this size. *check pattern for your particular size. 

 

 Once the ribbing is done, change to the larger needles (size 8's) and increase evenly across on that first row AND mark your halfway point with a stitch marker.  You have 2 markers now.. one at the beginning of your round (my green marker) and one halfway (the pink hanging on the left needle). *use a different color especially for the beginning of round**

  On the SECOND row of the body... place a marker 3 stitches in from your beginning of round marker.... knit over to 3 before the midway marker and put another one in. You have to use a locking stitch marker on the stitch itself because it stays here and doesn't travel around like a regular marker. You can also use a safety pin if you don't have any locking markers.  These markers form the 'line' where you begin your pouch and just stay here until later. THIS IS WHERE I MADE MY FIRST CHANGE....

I went ahead and ran a thread between those pouch markers AS I WAS KNITTING across to place the second marker. I figured that if I ran it along now I wouldn't have to fight with it so much later! **the pictures are from the sweater where I followed the directions exactly! I just don't have a picture to show you of the changed up version!

Once you do that... that whole marking thing... now you just knit your body for 6 inches (*check your size again in the pattern!) and then you will go back to that pouch spot!

This one I stitched a gold thread between those two pouch markers so I would have a straight line to pick up stitches along. It totally saves your butt so I suggest you do it!! !  BUT instead of going back and doing it, just weave it along with you as you knit that second row!  The contrasting string and the markers will just stay here waiting for you to knit up the body for those 4, 5, 6inches.

Now just park your body stitches on your needles - use something to keep them on there! Don't want anybody falling off!! 

Take a second ball of your yarn.........go in from the back on the left side (at that marker you placed earlier and that contrasting thread line) and pick up stitches. You reach in from the front with a crochet hook and pick up the yarn from behind. The pattern says to leave at least a 5" tail on the inside, but it's okay to leave more.  You stick your crochet hook into the center of the V of each stitch and reach in and just hook a loop of yarn from that second ball.  Once you have a few on your hook, you just slip them purlwise off the back onto your knitting needle.  

Another little hint.... pay attention and follow the directions... *If you work left to right like the pattern says... you end up on the right side to start knitting.  If  you look closely at my picture... yeah... I didn't.

I used another size 8 needle to work the pouch. I thought about putting the body onto waste yarn for safe keeping, but nah. I just pulled out my straight 8's and went to town! I've even used another circular needle here, it doesn't matter. You just need two more pointy sticks of the same size.

 

Now just follow the  directions here... pick up 46, 50... however many stitches you are supposed to until you get that line going between the two markers.  If you are off ~ have too many or whatever, you can fudge it so no worries! JUST make a note of it somewhere because if you forget to adjust for it, you have to work it in when it comes time to fuse with the main body.  The pattern says now to remove the pins (markers) but I didn't. I liked the reference point.

Now you just knit the pouch! Just like the pattern says. K the first 5, purl across, K the last 5 ~ that's the first row. KNIT THE FIRST and LAST 5 STITCHES in every row! Makes a really cool edge! BUT if you mess up... and I may or may not have... You can just leave it or pull it out. It's up to you. I have a sweater with a mistake on it and one without, but on the one with, I can't really tell!

The first row or so is kind of tight, but after a bit it gets better. Don't forget to do your decreases!

You will knit flat so now you have to purl the return rows! You want the stitching to look just like the rest of the body! Keep going until you have the right amount of stitches after all your decreases and your pouch is the same size as your body... the pouch may be longer here, but that's okay. Just knit some more on the body until both are the same size!!

Now.... eek! It's time to fuse the pouch with the rest of the body. Go ahead and read page 21 in the pattern book and look at pages 12 & 13.

It's not going to be that bad.... just hang on & I'll catch up so we can all do it together!

 

Here's the link for the pattern....

http://cottagecreationspatterns.com/Sweaters/Wonderful-Wallaby.php

 

 

 

 

Testing....

Ever been stuck on one row in a knitting pattern and no matter what you do, it just doesn't make sense? Or it just will not work and no amount of fudging is going to make it better? Yeah....been there. Sigh. It sucks. I don't often spend money on patterns (too much free stuff out there!) but when I do, I really want the dumb thing to work! I don't mind tossing things aside and waiting for the smoke to clear, but when I pick it up again... it had better work! Which makes me think.... somebody needs to step up and help a designer out! Enter me.... into the realm of pattern testing. Yikes.
There is a really cool forum over on Ravelry ~ that anyone can join BUT you better follow the rules~ it's exactly what the name implies... Free Pattern Testing... A designer makes up a pattern and then asks YOU, yeah you... average knitter to 'test' the pattern. 
All you do is sign up in the forum to become a pattern tester and then the fun begins!   A  designer will post a thread with just enough information to pull you in! Usually there is a picture and a little bit of information about the pattern, but... you don't get the pattern UNTIL the designer emails it to you.  Once you get the pattern you have to follow the directions and the rules of the group from start to finish. No fudging & no changing things! ~ I'll admit that this little part has been a bit of a challenge for me because as I'm knitting and I find an error... I want to correct it all on my own and get the thing done, but.... I need to send a message to the designer and let them do it. It's their pattern and their design after all.
 For me, it's not only been a test of a pattern, but a test of my patience and how I read and interpret patterns.  I'm a total direction follower so that helps, but when I can clearly see an error and how to fix it... sighing loudly... I have to put on my patience hat and well... you all might know how that goes.

Eyelet Fingerless Gloves 1/13

So far so good.... I've done three 'tests' so far and the results have been nice! I get to keep the patterns too which is pretty cool. What I'm really hoping for is that this stretches me and my knitting... I've already been working on that whole patience thing :)

Night at Big White ~ 2/9/13

Winter Wind Cowl - 2/13
Don't you just love Boy's face!!
 

Mid-Winter Motivation

I don't know about you, but the grey days of midwinter not only have me wishing Spring would return in a hurry, but that my motivation would hurry up and return as well!
I do seem to be knitting, but it seems that not much is really getting accomplished ~ I finish up my projects, but really don't have a whole lot to show for it. Which makes me wonder... what in the heck have I been doing?
Here's a list...
I've organized (partially) my stash and my stuff. Purged a bit here and there so I've  sort of already begun Spring cleaning. I've started AND finished projects completely out of the stash which is directly in-line with my resolution for the year. I've been working on test knitting some projects for designers and making all of my deadlines so how can it seem like I'm not on track and nothing is getting accomplished?  Wow.
Doldrums. Winter blues. Winter blahs? ~ yep. All of those and then some!
 I needed a little motivation to get me back on track! A little pick me-up...
so that's what I did! More than once actually....
I went to the yarn store!
 I didn't buy much, but what I did buy was directly related to how much of the sunshine and Spring I've been missing ~ everything!
Just look at this...
isn't it lovely? The picture doesn't really do it justice.. it has a lot of light and dark greens with some yellow in it and reminds me of Spring and Summer! ~ green grass, sunshine.... mm mm....
It's 'Rustic Fingering' 100% Superwash Merino by Neighborhood Fiber Co. here in D.C.
I think it's going to be some cabled socks for ME!
How's that for a little inspiration? Now I'm off to knit!

Confessions of a Yarn Hoarder - Day 5?

Obviously I skipped a few days between Day 4 post and today... and No! It's not because I was super busy destashing and debunking the yarnstoragesystem.... ha! Just the opposite. I've taken a step back and re-assessed things...
#1 I don't have time to deal with all that yarn right now *sigh* and #2, it really does work for me. It just may need to be revamped a little in the future if it keeps growing but for right now it's okay.
I feel like I was able to accomplish a lot in the four days I pretended to worked on it and I honestly think it works! I was able to really clean up and clean out a lot of the things I have lying around.... the tools, the patterns, the bits and pieces of yarn and yes... my little friend K got herself a good start on her own stash!! I cleaned out some of the stuff I had and gave it to her! It feels good to help someone else begin a hoarding stash collection! Her parents will thank me someday.. I'm sure of it!! Hey! I'm saving them money!  It was a good way to clean out some of my stuff!
I know.  I know... I was going to pull everything out, assess it, sort it, clean it out, but I didn't. Okay? I didn't. Once I looked at the yarn condo I realized that it was a pretty good system right now. Sock yarn is one drawer, cotton in another, funky bits in yet another so I didn't feel I needed to.  Just doing the stuff I did... sorting through the tools and patterns really spiffed things up! I was able to put it all [ more or less] into one (okay..more than one) spot so it's not overtaking the house as much!  Geez. Big hasn't stepped on anything or had to move yarn in several days so it must be a WINNING situation!!  AND he hasn't said anything about yarn that may or not have been purchased within the last week. Shh....

This is an old picture of the "condo" ~ I would like to expand it at some point. Some of the bins have craft supplies and fabric in them *yeah.. that's a separate issue* and I may have to do some sort of system for that stuff first. I still have yarn tucked away in various places throughout my house... in boxes on the bookshelves, in a bowl on the fireplace mantel and even on the back of a closet door! Those over the door shoe pocket thingys are marvelous places to store yarn!

Now that I've managed to organize a bit I can get on to the point of this whole experiment.... Making it all accessible so I can happily knit without being overwhelmed by my stuff!

I'm really trying to shop the stash first ~ rather than heading directly off to the store for a yarn for a project I head to the condo! Wish me luck with that one huh?

 

Confessions of a Yarn Hoarder - Day 4

Oh okay. You busted me. It's actually Day 5, but since I didn't post yesterday I'm sticking to  Day 4! Yesterday nobody felt well here in Cupcake Land and I think the rapid barometric pressure changes were the issue.  Our waking up with sore throats and I don't wanna's has got to be totally related to the roller coaster weather we've had.  In the last three days, temps & weather has changed from snow to 70's and then back to snow and 20's. All in 3 days! 
I'm blaming the weather for not getting much done this week!  I didn't do much yesterday, but I did manage to get all of my tools into one spot ~ I sort of (ha!) took over the entire dining room table for the last 3 days!!  Big wasn't too happy about that, but... now that it's all tidy and into  pretty much one spot, he'll survive.  My inner OCD is a little happier as well because I not only managed to corral the stuff, but I realized I don't really have to go buy more stitch markers! I even found some in the car! I'm not sure why I even found some in the bathroom.... but I found a bunch!!  Once it was all piled up on the table... no picture because I forgot! Honestly... I couldn't believe the amount of stuff I had!  Oh wait..... yes I can! EVERY stinkin' time I go to the yarn store I eyeball the chachkies like they were chocolate!  Gotta get me some more of that!!
So... what to do with all that stuff!! I really didn't have all that much ~ it just sounds so much better to say that it COVERED the ENTIRE dining room table top rather than just.. gathered everything together on top of the table... See?  I know, I know... more justification which does imply that I have a bit of a problem. *sigh*

Once you've gathered all of YOUR stuff what are you going to do with it? Do you have a little bag that it goes in to? A drawer, a box? I initially bought a little bag from a 'little personalized bag company' that had 2 zippered pockets that folded into half with a handle. Nice. BUT my friend thought that was better for her than the loverly bag I now have.. so we traded!

At first I wasn't sure about it, it is really big... but... once I really started to use it AND I realized that my interchangeable needle set would fit into one of the pockets.... I was hooked!

Just look at all of those pockets ~ ignore the stuff, just look at the pockets! Awesome right?!! AND another bonus is that the pouches can be taken out and go where I go! The big one has all the stitch holders, highlighter tape, cable needles...etc. etc. that just gets lost if it isn't in one place. The smaller pouches are basically GO bags! I have my scissors, tape measure, some stitch markers, needle gauge, needles and a crochet hook (for fixing stuff!) all ready to go in one little bag and that's the bag I'm putting with my current WIP and my daily knitting.

It holds a ton of stuff and I love it!! Only problem with it so far.... where do I put all those pesky DPN's and my many million circulars?

  Big 'allowed' this purchase as a birthday gift (snort!) a couple of years ago, but after those couple of years and multiple trips to the knitting store, I couldn't close it anymore! It usually looks like this...

So I had to take some out. I put the circulars with 16" cables into Ziploc bags, put some cute designer tape on the bottom, punched a hole in one side and stuck them all on a ring! *I used to do this with my DPN's but the little buggers kept poking their way out of their bags!

 My DPN's still live in zip bags, but... I found this cool worm bag at a big sports store and it already has bags! Better, thicker bags... with grommets!!   I just replaced their little rings with bigger rings, used some of my already hole punched zippies and stuck ALL ~ I think it's all... maybe it isn't... ANYWAY.. most of my DPN's in there! It even has little zippered pockets to store even more stuff!

My OCD thinks I'm amazing!! Zippy bags, storage bags, ALL IN ONE PLACE... oh my!!

 How could you not just love it?

Next up...... *sigh* tackling the yarn stash.......

 

 

 

 

 

Confessions of a Yarn Hoarder - Day 3

So it's Day 3 in the series of debunking, destashing and re-organizing the yarnstoragesystem!  This is my adventure in how to get from piles of stuff hidden in baskets, on bookshelves, under beds, chairs and right out in the open to nicely organized, easily accessible ~ which then means easily used~ piles of stuff!
What have I accomplished? Well....
I've talked about it.  I've considered it.  I've looked up lots of lovely storage, organizing ideas on the Internet....
Yeah okay, so really.... not much.  That's a bit disappointing considering it's Day 3, but considering the amount of stuff I have, well... this is gonna take a while!
I could take this day as a reflection day. A day to re-organize the plan for destashing and debunking, but... that sounds a bit like a cop-out doesn't it? Um.. yeah.  BUT it's probably a really good idea to rewind a little bit. MAKE A PLAN  so I have something to stick to!
Day 3 is now PLANNING DAY. Cut me some slack would ya? I know I should have done it the first day, but... let's regroup and make our plan now okay?
#1 Look at your storage space as it is now. Is there anything you would like to change? Make it easier to get to and then use? Is your hubby happy with that great big pile of stuff by his favorite chair?
Break it down a little.... a) assess what you have now and how it works, b) is the system you have capable of expanding or does it need a face lift? C) What would your dream system be....NOW spend hours online looking at available OCD organizing options *sigh* Oh wait... I did that yesterday :)
#1 was really Day 1 for me. I looked at my stuff. Got tired of  trying to cram it all into the yarn condo and then having to dig around in different places for different tools. That was annoying enough to make me want to spruce it up a bit. I started there and then I moved to...
 #2 Organizing the paper! Day #2 for me!  I pulled out all (almost all) of my patterns. Paper printouts from the Internet, patterns I bought and the books. I didn't have a ton, but some of it I wasn't ever going to use and I had duplicates on my Ravelry page so I was able to spend just an hour or two yesterday purging.  I now have a nice pile to share with my friends and some went into the recycle bin! Sometime in the future I'm going to scan the rest in and make them into nice tidy pdf's, but for now I'm happy with three binders made down into just one!
 #3 ~ yeah. That's today my Day #3.  I'm planning out my POA (plan of action), setting my time limits, ignoring the budget (shh!) and hitting the bricks running! Man do I talk a good game or what?!! **This should be really in the #1 spot**
#4  Tools! Look at the tools you have (needles and everything!) Do you have one place to put this stuff? I'd like mine all to be together and easily accessible so this is going to be my #4 Day. I'm going to start by gathering it all into one place, maybe the dining room table? I don't know about you, but I have stitch markers, cable needles, scissors and rulers EVERYWHERE!  It will be a project to just get it into one spot! 
 #5 Yarn!!   This will be my #5 day I think *however many days it takes! See? I've saved the best for last! The ultimate stop on the tour of my stuff! Organizing the YARN!! I plan on pulling it all out ~ from the dining room, the living room and every room I find it in and putting it all into one spot. **Has to be a spot where it can be out for a couple of days because I want to make sure I have it all!  Once I get it all together I'm going to sort it and this is personal. I can't tell you how to sort yours because it's all about you at this point. How you like it and what you have.  I have my yarn in bins now separated by type. Sock yarn in one bin, cotton in another and acrylic (gasp!) in another. It's worked so far but I may need to add some categories and I'm sure that once I get into the pile I will work that out.
Once it's sorted....... sort it again! Any of the stuff that you know you won't use give it away! It's okay. Somebody else might love it and need it! Yarn should be used not stored forever. That's the whole point of this trip through my stuff right now! 
Now bag it! I've got extra large clear bags for this! Twins, triplets, quads, etc. will all go into one bag. Those bags will then go back into the bins. Yarn for specific projects (Wallaby Sweater) will go into it's own bag and then go into the WIP bin! 
Phew... it already sounds overwhelming doesn't it! AND it's not even Day #5 yet. Yikes. I think another important part of the plan here is to include sustenance. SNACKS and drinks to keep your energy up!!
#6 Documentation!  Pictures are a beautiful way to show your progress! Posting said pictures on your blog or even facebook will not only validate what you did and what you accomplished BUT you can look back on it later *when it gets all messy again* and your dream yarnstoragesystem won't be so far away!